Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Organic insecticide from pepper spices

Did you know that the spices in your kitchen, hiding incredible potential as an organic insecticide? One is Pepper (Piper nigrum L.), the spices which never missed its presence in a mixture of Indonesian cuisine proved capable of controlling warehouse pests/ insect of Callosobruchus maculatus F. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), which can cause damage to 70% on green beans in the warehouse. Control of C. maculatus in storage is commonly done is by fumigation. However, excessive fumigation and continuously can have negative impacts, including resistance, resurgence, as well as the effect on human health and the environment.
Green beans or mung bean are one source of vegetable protein from beans class that cultivated by many farmers in Indonesia. But in the cultivation of green beans, farmers frequently encounter problems in the field or in storage (postharvest). The problem that often arises in the storage warehouse is pest Callosobruchus maculatus (F.). The use of spice plants as botanical insecticides is a method that is economical and easy control of the bugs attacks.
Utilization of pepper as an organic insecticide or plant-based insecticides is an environmentally friendly alternative and in accordance with the principles of Integrated Management of Warehouse Pest. Based on the research, pepper gets its spicy heat mostly from the piperine compound, which is found both in the outer fruit and in the seed. Black pepper contains between 4.6% and 9.7% piperine by mass, and white pepper slightly more than that. Refined piperine, by weight, is about one percent as hot as the capsaicin. While the pepper essential oil contains Limonene, pinene, myrcene, Phellandrene, beta-caryophyllene, Beta-bisabolene, Sabinene, Linalol, Pinocarveol, Alpha, terpineol, Camphene, Alpha, Terpenene. Piperine and its essential oil work together as a nerve poison and stomach poison . Its fruit is euthanizing or anesthetizing because of its piperine substances which have similarities to morphine (an alkaloid). How to get rid of bugs using pepper and other spices
Its seeds finely ground and then sieved with a sieve mesh size of 0.05 to get the powder. Then, the powder is mixed evenly on the surface of mung bean seed with a minimum concentration of 0.5% (w / w). The powder will coat the entire surface of the mungbeen seeds, resulting in pest C. maculatus reluctant to lay their eggs on the surface of the green beans (kacang hijau). The powder also penetrate into the pores of the surface of mungbeans, causing C. maculatus larval would not grow well, and eventually die. This experiment has been tested in insect physiology and toxicology laboratory, Department of Plant Protection., Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) of Indonesia.
The experimental result showed that the spice powder and drying treatment proved effective in inhibiting the development of C. maculates and does not reduce germination of green beans. It showed very high effectiveness in the treatment of Java chili and pepper powder combined with drying for one week, which can inhibit up to more than 90%. Turmeric powder treatment also effectively inhibited the development of C. maculates up to 50%.
Now, you can try by yourself to use spices such as pepper as an organic insecticide to repel insects from food stock in the kitchen.